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He didn’t mean to but when he stepped into the pool–that didn’t have a step–he went straight under water. He chaotically sank. Before I could blink, piranha mouth was emerging from the water with horror on his little face. Elias sloppily floundered through the water until I (with Owen in my arms) had to jump into the kiddy pool and save him. I grabbed his little arm and yanked my little doggy paddler above water as quickly as I could.

Completely soaked and still choking Elias looked at me with a quirky smile and said, “I fell down.” I wanted to burst into tears and laughter all at the same time. “I saw that, son…” was all I said. After that the intensity withered, and we were able to enjoy the sun, splashing, and laying out.

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I shared how I felt about that here. Well all of this “big mama” talk it is getting out of control. Lately, every time we are in the car Elias will lean over to Owen and say, “big mama!” This of course makes Owen laugh hysterically. Enjoy this little video, filmed by none other than “big mama.”

So many of my friends are having babies! And there are even more coming. Today I thought it would be fun to share 25 ways to support and encourage new mommies. I remember how blessed I was when I had Elias and Owen, and would love for more people to feel the same kind of encouragement.

25 Ways To Encourage A New Mom

Take her a meal.

Listen to her.

Don’t compare her kids to others.

Fold her laundry.

Tell her what a great mom she is.

Don’t act like she should have all of the answers. Remind her that where she is weak, Jesus is strong.

Support her in following her husband’s leadership. Each man has different ways of leading his family.

If you feel the need to ask about how much sleep she had last night… ask something like: “Did you get more than a minute of sleep last night?” This will make her feel better about the fact that she only got twenty minutes of sleep all night long.

Babysit for her. Let her take a nap or have a few minutes to shower alone.

Clean her house. Put the dishes away. Vacuum. etc..

Bring her a fun little surprise. Coffee, cupcakes, cookies, candy…what does she like? Bring it to her.

Promise her that she will be able to go to the movies again one day.

Tell her how great she looks for having just had a baby.

Leave when the baby goes down for a nap. She needs a nap too.

Bring a gift for her and the baby.

Promise her that she will get out of the house.

Promise her that she will sleep again.

Don’t tell your stories about how your baby was the perfect sleeper, never fussed, and always cuddled.

Only visit when it is convenient for Momma and baby.

Send her a little card of encouragement.

Call and ask if she needs anything from the store.

Pray for her.

Don’t expect her to fulfil her normal social obligations. She needs a little time to adjust to her new life with a baby.

Make yourself available for her to ask you questions.

Tell her that she is the perfect mother for this baby! God has fully equipped her to care for this little one.

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Yesterday was such a fun summer feeling day. It is hot here in Tennessee, so my best friend Lauren and I took our boys to the splash pad. We enjoyed sunny skies, cold water, buckets, playgrounds, and picnic lunches.

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I’m so excited about summer! I keep thinking about popsicles, playing in the pool, and enjoying the sun with my kiddos.

My parenting idea for today is: Plan Your Summer.

I don’t want to wait until everybody is home to start thinking about how we are going to spend our summer. I want to prepare for them now. I want to schedule fun things for them! I love how God has gone to prepare a place for us. And on a way smaller scale, I want to prepare for my boys. If you’d like to join me in looking ahead a little, I bet you’ll have a fun summer while accomplishing the goals that need to get done.

*Here is how I plan my summer:

1. First, I look at the big picture. In order to schedule our vacations, and bigger trips, I have to look at my summer as a whole. A few of our trips take up whole weeks, so we’ll want to get that on the calender first.

2. Next I schedule my celebrations. This could be holidays, birthdays, weddings, baby showers, fun family days, etc… It is important for me to plan our family day trips, visits to the zoo, etc..in advance to make sure they actually happen.

3. Then, I schedule my weekly activities. For instance church on sunday, friends come over every friday, etc…

4, Finally I look at each day. With Mark taking a few seminary classes, he needs to be able to get his reading done, the boys need a nap, and dinner always needs to be on the table. By looking at each day I make sure the little things get done.

By starting with the big picture, I make sure we have a few weeks marked out for vacation. Then by looking at each month, I ensure that we’ll be ready for our holidays and celebrations. Lastly by looking at each week and individual day, I make sure the necessary, work, fun, and activities are in place.

Enjoy your summer! Remember to take a few days off and get some rest. Enjoy your vacations, and time with family!

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When he lost control of his sippy cup and it went flying through the air, it landed in the most unfortunate of places! Being a complete germ freak, to the point of being weirded out by my own toilet, I couldn’t rescue the cup. I thought about buying giant rubber gloves and a face mask, but that didn’t seem practical, so it sat there until Mark came downstairs and got it out.

Shock and horror! He was screaming “MOM!!! I was screaming, “MARK!”

Exhibit B: The Burned Duck

One day right before lunch, I pulled the mac and cheese noodles off of the stove and began to drain the water. When I turned around I found Elias holding this burned duck. It wasn’t until I looked at the stove (see the picture below) that I realized what happened. The duck had tried to learn how to fly, landed on the hot burner, and was rescued by my two-year old. How did I not see that???

Exhibit C: Burned Dinner

I did it! My head in hanging between my shoulders in shame. I burned out gourmet frozen pizza dinner. I get extra amazing points for this one. So here is my confession: We are NOT perfect!

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I am terrible about waiting to open my presents. Just ask my husband, if he gets me a present or if something comes in the mail, I want to open it right away.

But just imagine if I actually had to wait. Horror of Horrors! I’d probably look like the hypnotizing snake off of Robin Hood with colorful concentric circles spinning around in my eyes. I’d just sit there staring at my package day after day.

All of that to say a package came in the mail. It had my name on it. And, yes I opened it. Mother’s day is only two weeks away. That isn’t that bad… Right?

Look at what I scored! It is my new “real life” mommy diary. Mark is so thoughtful, and got me a journal that has our own personalized pictures on it. I love these pictures of my sweet boys.

The back cover has some fun questions that I got to answer.

Thanks Mark for the awesome Mother’s Day present! It is such a privilege to be your wife and to be the mommy of your boys. And it makes me so happy to have a fun journal to record our adventures in. I can’t wait to start writing all of our fun stories.

If you are interested in making your own personalized journal, calendar, planner, cards, or books you can check out Paper Coterie. Also for the next five days The Mom Creative is giving away a free $25 credit to Paper Coterie if you subscribe to her blog. So be sure to take advantage of that!

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Today I want share how to make your own ball pit. All you need is a pack.n.play and some balls. It is so easy to make, and it will entertain the little guys for a long time. If you don’t have balls, you can buy them at Wal-Mart for really cheap.

We set up the pack.n.play.

We gathered all of the balls.

And it was time to play. Owen looked like he was swimming in balls.

Elias joined in on the fun!

This is how he felt about the ball pit. I love that smile.

At one point Elias asked to get in the pack.n.play with Owen so I let him. He then proceeded to stick balls in Owen’s mouth. Of course Owen thought that was hilarious. Here is a little video.

And there you have it- a quick, easy, and fun activity.

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A Spoonful Of Insight Link Up Party

The goal of this link up party is to have a place where people can come each week and simply link back to posts with different parenting stories, tips, ideas, or encouragement.

Please link up to your specific blog post, not to your blog’s main page.

Make this an interactive link up party by visiting a few other blogs while you’re here. Don’t forget to comment on other people’s blogs. : )

I’d love it if you would Grab a button from the sidebar or link back to this post so that your blog readers can come and join the fun, too!